Dave Henderson

'36 Ford radiator ornament, '41 Ford top knob

Can't help with a specific application, but it looks more like a trunk handle to me. I'd guess '40's vintage.

Quite a nice find. It is one of the illuminated temperature guages, the only other one known to me being the Boyce "Radio Motometer" Yours appears to be missing a lower portion that attaches to the radiator neck. The cylindrical lugs extending to the sides would be hinge pins to allow the cap to be opned by tilting it if I am not mistaken.

Boy, hasn't this thread hit everyones nostalgia button. Come to think of it, mine too. I was a "customer" in my pre-adolescent days and remember walking the 6 blocks to the Gulf station in Lyon Park where I could sometime meet up with the truck and make a purchase. That day the piggy bank held only a nickle, but that was ok, it would buy a popsickle, and I didn't usually splurge on the Good Humor bar, tha ice cream one with the chocolate coating, any way. It cost a whole dime. I lucked out, there he was and I got the popsickle. As I almost reached home I made a surprize discovery.... that nickle wasw still in my pocket! He hadn't asked for it, and I was probably just anticipating that cool refreshing pop and didn't think of it either. I turned around and walked back to pay him, but by then he was gone. Funny how a 5 cent incident would stick in one's mind all those years (darn near 70 of 'em). One more; the popsickle wrapper had the name "Joe Lowe" on it. The maker? Sorry, nostalgia just went into overdose.

Here's a porcelain sign hanging on the wall in our kitchen which presumably was once on one of the trucks.

And Harrisburg is bankrupt. What a state.

P. S. Those Briggs and Stratton locks and keys the '30's-'40's GM's had got pretty sloppy after a lot of wear. Friends and I discovered that keys to one's car would work on anothers, maybe with a little wiggling!

Regarding not needing a key to start the car, here is my experience; I had a '40 Buick when a poor college kid, and it had a 3 position ignition lock cylinder, I think it could be locked off or turned off in the other direction without being locked. That is, to the best of my recollection, it was over 60 years ago. Your switch may have the same positions and perhaps that is why you don't have to have a key to turn it on and off. Mine also had a vacuum switch that activated the starter when the gas pedal was pushed. It de-activated as soon as there was vacuum. My ignition switch was defective and had to be tweeked a little bit away from its normal "on" position in order to make contact. No one knew that but me, so I never "locked" it, and with the defect no one knew how to start it but me. Occasionally it would slip off the tweeked position while driving and the engine would cut off. I knew when it happend and would just re-set it and keep on going. I do miss that big Roadmaster, a fixed up $75 wreck. It had rear-ended a '39 Ford and stood it on its end!

Surprizing that Pa. is such a pain. One would think that with the huge presence of AACA in the state, and the megabucks the club brings to it, they would be more cooperative, if not downright sympathetic.

If that darned sign just weren't up so high......

When I could get it around here it used to cost around $8 per cylinder. $5.83 seems to be a bargain price, but of course that is if you buy 12. I will look around in this area some more, home depot and sears hadn't been carrying it, only the less hot stuff. I don't braze with it, just use it for heatring applications when propane isn't enough. It is more portable and convenient than firing up the oxy/acet.

I used mapp gas for years when I needed a flame hotter than propane's but lower than oxy/acet. All I can find now is a watered down version that isn't as hot, doesn't hack it. Can you still get it in your area? Has it been made unavailable perhaps for cya?

My first star-struck sighting of a '37 Cord before WW11, and later, one of an early XK120 roadster, resulted in my acquiring these marques many years afterward. On the negative side, a most depressing sight was that of a magnificent Isotta Fraschini beside a WW11 scrap metal donation bin in Arlington Virginia. It was a Tipo 8A, destined to be returned to Italy and other war torn places in the form of weaponry, bullets, and shells.

Is there a head gasket? If so I could try to match it up with a make, assuming it is a domestic engine. The car appears to be built pre WW11. Any history?

To sell the '30 coupe You should go to where the Model A'ers congregate and would appreciate it most, such as ahooga.com, fordbarn.com, mafca.com, marc.com (is that right?) and also craigslist, (free) and Hemmings Motor news or Old Car weekly, both of which charge for ads. If someone in your area works on Model A's, it perhaps would enhance the sale if the clutch were fixed. Otherwise be prepared to drop the price in consideration of that, especially if it can't be driven now.

Keiser, sidemount spares were pretty rare on '36 Dodges. Think I saw them on a conv. once, but can't remember ever seeing any on sedans. I was very surprized to see a '39 Plymouth 2 dr (at that) having them here locally, within the last 10 years. Again, I had only seen a conv. '39 so equipped previously. Those molls looked pretty well equipped too!

David, I know you're working on it, can you now say shift happens??

Laurie, (and everyone else too!) please add my lost '41 Ford Super Deluxe convertible to your list. It had black lacquer, white Hartz top, wide whitewalls and seven rib wheel trim. Sold in '57 to a person whose name I think was Don Anderson. He may have been a GI stationed in rhe Washington, D. C. area, and he also owned a '57 Chevy 150 fuelie. Another needle in a haystack, but one never knows. Stranger things have happened. Thanks, Dave

Those AQ's with the larger picture on the cover were the original issues, sent quarterly to subscribers. Some may also have been left over for later purchase. The others, with the smaller cover pictures, were probably a subsequent printing or binding, but there is nothing to indicate that in the books themselves. Compare the thickness of one to the other and you will see that the earlier issues had thicker covers. Given a choice I would personally opt for those. After the first year, the volumes which followed were about 7/16" shorter horizontally. The second and fourth issues of volume 1 were valued at about twice as much as the first and third ones according to the 1991 edition of Tom Warth's "Car Book Value Guide". No distinction was made relative to the two different cover treatments.

And you were thinking about buying a Smart Car??

I was a kid with a morning newspaper route during WWII. One morning while delivering papers I came upon a sad sight, a '41 Chevy up on cinder blocks with its 2 front wheels and tires stolen. That presented the owner with a serious problem (in addition to the financial loss). The ration board had to be approached in order to appeal for replacements. That Chevy stayed on blocks for a while. No extra tires beyond the spare were permitted to be retained. I'm sure there were many salted away, it was human nature. I don't recall how cars with dual side mounted spares were handled, there weren't many old enough in our area to have had them. A 35 mph speed limit was also in force to save gas and tires. The early synthetic tires weren't very good. Desperate measures were taken to prolong the useful life of bad old tires, such as "boots" to shore up a bad spot, and liners that went inside the casing and provided additional layers of cords for reinforcement. In Virginia the state safety inspection allowed completely bald tires to pass as long as there were no cords showing!

Barn find! Available soon. This is an aluminum-bodied exotic by Stabilimente Farina from '50-'51. Possibly the one entered in Sebring '52. All major mechanical components are present and appear to be in good order. Numbers match. Please PM me for further details. Thanks, Dave

Snow is forecast for Tuesday here in northern Virginia. Can't happen, it got all used up last year.

Have you tried selling it to the Diamond Cab company? They might be interested. I believe the Yellow cab co. in Falls Church has a '40's Plymouth.

'32 was the depth of the depression, but the very pinnacle of pre-streamlining styling. That big Nash is stunning.